Electrical distribution panels (or “load centers”) are used widely in residential and commercial applications to house and protect electrical components. These power distribution centers include a main bus bar arrangement that functions to connect the main electrical service entrance with a number of branch circuits. Breaker panels operate to divide electrical power into subsidiary circuits, while providing a protective fuse or circuit breaker for each circuit.
Electrical switching devices, such as circuit breakers and isolators, are designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by a fault condition, such as an overload or short circuit, and switch the circuit to zero energy state for safe maintenance or normal on/off switching. Safety regulations, such as those published by the National Electrical Code (NEC), are being developed which require circuit breakers, especially those controlling critical circuits (e.g., fire protection circuits, emergency generator circuits, etc.), to be clearly labeled. It can also be advantageous to electricians and other users to be able to quickly identify the type of circuit being protected by a particular circuit breaker.
The current practice for labeling circuits is to describe the circuit location or loads on the label inside of the load center door with the corresponding circuit number. This is tedious, hard to read, and requires you to then go find the corresponding circuit. This can be difficult in the typical low-light environments where load centers are installed. Other practices for labeling circuit breakers include adding a piece of tape to the exposed face of the circuit breaker or breaker-panel door, and marking the tape by hand with the type of circuit to which the circuit breaker is connected. This practice is not preferred since the tape can fall off if the adhesive fails. Moreover, the handmade markings can become smudged or otherwise rendered indecipherable.